Zoom's Reign
by Speedster21
Summary: After Barry Becomes stuck in the speed force he stays stuck for months. There is no flash to protect Central City and a new Hero will have to rise to free Barry and stop Zoom. -Story takes place season 2 of 'CW's The Flash '
1. Chapter 1

**_This was really my first attempt at writing fan fiction. I hope you guys enjoy the first chapter of this story, It took a while for me to finally get to post this, I've been working hard on this for about a month now. If you guys enjoyed this story's start or did not enjoy it, please leave some feedback. It would help a lot, Thank you, everyone who reads this._**

**This story takes place during the first time Barry was trapped in the speed force in season 2. The only characters added to this story that isn't owned by DC are Thomas (the main character) and Isaac (The main characters best friend) This story does not follow any specific events that have taken place in the actual show, apart from the Barry being trapped in the speed force.**

It's been months since the Flash's death. Zoom ran into a news station and broadcasted to the whole city, that the hero they looked up to, had died. He didn't have his body to prove his death but everyone knew that it was true. Zoom held The Flashes chest piece in his hand. He could have lied, or maybe he could have hidden his body or maybe he was telling the truth. Zoom was too fast for anyone to stop. But we tried in the end, we did. but he killed us, and he kept killing us until we stopped trying.

My story is simple, I was born in August 1992. I graduated top of my class with a 4.3 GPA in high school and went to CCU for college to major in forensics and criminal justice. I'm tall, about 6'1, I have darker brown hair color, short and the front pressed up from the hair gel I used, and my eyes are a greenish color. I was raised by both of my amazing parents, they raised me to do the right thing even in hard times. What else could I say? They were amazing. They loved me so much, they fed me, bathed me, clothed me and provided for my every need. They were there for my first break up, my first science fair, my first everything. But not anymore. Zoom stole them from me, he murdered them in cold blood. Crushed my father's heart and broke my mother's neck. I had to bury both of my parents and it was the hardest thing in the world, but I did it and it only made me stronger.

My name is Thomas Cutter, and this is how I stopped, the "Fastest Man Alive."

_**After the funeral**_

"All they wanted to do was go out to get something to eat," I said, eyes teary from all the pain, I buried my face in my palms. "I know Thomas, this has to be so hard for you." Isaac told me in a comforting tone, arm around my shoulder as we both sat on a hill outside of the city overlooking the vast amount of people moving about. You could see everything, from Star Labs to the CCPD Precinct. Isaac was my best friend, he was always there for me. He was tall, short black hair, and tanish white skin, with a light bluish gray eye color. "Just don't let this break you down, let it build you up." Isaac said as he stood up, pushing himself with his left hand on the ground for support. "Your parents would want that." He bent over, "Go home, get some sleep. It's late." He told me as he patted me on the shoulder and frowned. I nodded and proceeded to get up.

As I got home, I took my coat off and placed it on the rack next to the door, and placed my keys on the kitchen counter. I started for my room and got changed into my towel to take a shower and get ready for bed when all of a sudden my phone started buzzing like crazy. _What in the world? _I questioned in my head. "Turn to channel 7" - Joe West, "Channel 7, now." - Captain Singh, "Hey check the news!" -Isaac. I was both curious and concerned at this point. I shrugged while tossing my phone on the bed and headed for the living room. I grabbed the remote, turned on the TV as I sat down on my comfortable leather lazy boy, still in my towel. "Okay, channel 7." I said out loud as I pressed the button with the number to the channel on it. The channel was set on CCN, and what was being broadcasted was Zoom. My eyes started to tear with anger, and my chest swell with emotion,I gripped the armrests on the sides of the comfortable leather chair with immense force, only showing my anger. My eyes locked to his hand, he held something. It looked to be a piece of the Flash's suit that was blown off. His emblem was on the front of it so you could tell it was his chest piece. "Look at your hero now." He said with the voice of a monster as he raised up the piece of armor looking at it. "I stole his speed, and he couldn't get it back, now he's dead." he said, dropping the red chest piece. "What will you do without you precious hero?" Zoom said mockingly and then sped out of the building with a trail of blue lighting and knocking over everyone in the room with a powerful gust of wind. I couldn't believe it. The flash was gone.

_**Present day**_

It's Friday night and my plans are to go and relax on the new comfortable couch I just bought with the bonus I received for working hard and overtime. I was just coming home from a hard day's work. I worked as a forensic scientist for the CCPD. There was two of us, but Barry Allen has been missing for the past couple of months or so now, and he was nowhere to be seen or found. So I took his place, working his shifts. Anything to keep my mind off of Zoom and my parent's. I got the job shortly after getting my bachelors degree and graduating CCU. "Hi Cutter." A man's voice called out from the corner of the living room relaxing on what appeared to be the old lazy boy I wasn't using any more thanks to the comfy new lavender couch I bought. "I'm sorry, who are you? And why are you in my apartment?" I asked back in confusion, stepping towards him with my arms crossed and standing up tall to assert my dominance in the situation. He sat there, right leg crossed over the left one leaning back against the chair. "The names Snart." He said with a sarcastic smile. My heart dropped. _Oh no. _I thought to myself, lowering my shoulders, raising my eyebrows and dropping my arms to my side as I realized who was sitting in front of me. The man pulled the hood that was resting over his head off so the rest of his face was revealed. Panic swelled in my chest at this point. "Y-you, you're Captain Cold." I said, trying not to sound pathetically scared out of my mind. Which I was. "The one and only." Cold said with a smirk. "Don't worry kid, I'm not here to hurt you." He stated with a smile. "Well, what do you want then? Why are you here?" I asked cautiously, taking a step back.

"I need your help kid." He said. "You see, I'm no a hero. I'm a bad guy, I like to steal. I can't steal if I'm preoccupied with trying to stop my city from falling apart." he told me, with worry in his voice. "And what role exactly would I play in any of this that could possibly help you?" I asked curiously this time crossing my arms and standing up straight once again. Something about this just didn't feel right, why on earth would one of CCPD's most wanted, come to me? Someone who works for the police? "I know some people. They say that you could be the key to stopping Zoom. So I thought hey, if this is true I can go back to doing what I love to do, instead of running around playing hero." He explained thoroughly. He sat up and took his goggles off, and placed his cold gun on the coffee table in front of the couch, and leaned forward. "Look kid." he said, pressing his hands together interlocking his fingers. "I may be a bad guy, but I'm not the one you should be worrying about right now. Plus, zoom is bad for business. Can't rob and steal if there's nothing to rob and steal." He told me, leaning back into my chair while crossing his arms. Confusion was running through my mind and I moved my hand to rub the back of my head. "I don't understand?" I told him as I went to hang up my coat and place my keys on the kitchen counter. "Just come with me Cutter, you will." "How do I know you aren't just going to rob and kill me?" I asked suspiciously, pointing my finger at him. "If I wanted to do that, I would have already done it." Snart said as he tilted his head and squinted his eyes. "Okay. I'll come." I told the villain and gave a shrug. "Great let's go." Snart said as he stood up from my chair and put his equipment back on. We walked out to my car and drove off to star labs.

As we went down the elevator inside Star labs, Snart gave me a wink and a smirk. The doors opened now, "Alright out you go." He told me as he pushed me forward into the corridor. "Ah, there he is! I told you Snart could convince him." A man said walking towards him from a hallway. He had long black hair and a wide smile. Two more people followed him. A girl with long dark brown hair and a taller man who looked to be . _Impossible he died and is convicted of killing Barry Allen's mom. _I thought to myself. "Hi, I'm Cisco, and this is Caitlin and Harry." He said, pointing behind him at the other pair of individuals. "H-hey, I'm Thomas. Thomas Cutter." I said to all of them, but only shaking Cisco's hand. "Aren't you the guy who killed Barry Allen's mom?" I asked pointing at Harrison Wells and slightly squinting. Wells looked over to Cisco, "That's a long story to explain but no, he isn't that Harrison Wells." Cisco explained. "Alright. Well, Snart said you guys think that I'm the key to stopping zoom?" I asked nervously, looking around at them with my arms crossed. "Yea, pretty much." Caitlin said with a smile as she nodded her head. _Wow… they're actually serious? _I thought to myself curiously. This was the first time in a while that I felt needed. It felt good.

"I don't understand. How could someone like me possibly stop someone like Zoom? I'm just a forensic scientist. No powers, no police experience…"

I asked curiously, my brow furrowed and tilting my head to the right ever so slightly. "There's where you're wrong pal!" Cisco stated excitedly. He moved towards me until he stood right in front facing me. "You see, when the particle accelerator went active 2 years ago, you were exposed to-" "Dark matter, and other not so theoretical energies, yeah I know. But still, I wasn't as lucky as some of the people in this city. I never got powers." I rudely interrupted. "Yes but, you did. You just can't use them for some reason. On the night of the explosion, you were exposed to the same energies that the flash was giving you full access to harness the speed force!" Caitlin chimed in, an excited smile filled her face. My eyes widened in surprise. _There's no way I could be a speedster, I would have known. _I thought. "Okay well, say you're right. Say I can harness the speed force, that I am a speedster. How would I activate this power? I asked, trying to hide my excitement with a serious face.

They all turned to look at each other. I moved my hand and rubbed the back of my head. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Here's the bad news…" Cisco said hesitantly. "We'd have to jump start your cells into an excited state." "Okay, how do we do that?" I asked. "Ever jumpstart a car before Mr. Cutter?" Snart said sarcastically. I winced at the sound of his statement. I almost forgot he was there. My eyes widened and my eyebrows bent. "No, no, no… I can't do that." I told them. "The needed electricity to jump start a car is 12 to 14 volts, if I were a battery I wouldn't be as worried, but I'm not and I'm sure to jumpstart a speedster, it would take at least 400 volts of electricity. Am I right?" I asked frightened, looking around to all of their faces individually. "Yeaah…" Cisco let out very stretched and hesitant reply as he rubbed his hair down in the back. "Please, you're our only chance to save Barry!" Caitlin said in anguish, pressing her hands together as if she were praying. _Barry? _I thought. _What does Barry have anything to do with this?_ Then it hit me. Barry Allen, the other forensic scientist at the CCPD went missing around the same time that the flash mysteriously 'died'. "Oh my God." I said surprised, eyes widening once again, backing up a little bit. "Barry Allen Is the Flash!" "Uhh... Yeah, how did you-" Cisco said, pointing his index finger towards me before I interrupted. "It all makes sense now, Barry Allen wouldn't have just quit, he was one of the best employees that CCPD ever had, and he loves his job. And if he was really 'missing' then the police and detectives like Joe West, who is basically his dad would have found him, or at least his body by now" they all looked surprised and dazzled as I figured that out so quickly. I was actually a pretty good detective, I almost applied to be one but I decided I would rather not die out in the field. I preferred the science of my job anyway.

Then it hit me. _The flash is alive? _I thought to myself before responding. "I get that he was your friend guys, but you're asking me to risk my life to do something that may or may not work, I mean… I could potentially die from this. My parents may have been killed by Zoom, and trust me I'd like to stop his reign just as much as the next guy, hell I'd kill him if I could, but I still don't think that risking my life for something that may or may not work is a good idea. I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm not your guy." I told them, disappointment in my voice. They all nodded and Caitlin had tears start to run down her face. I looked down at my feet and my face turned bright red, but I turned around to walk to the elevator and leave Star labs. I don't know why I couldn't bring myself to say yes, after all my life kind of sucked. "I'm sorry I can't help you guys," I told them as I turned my face to the left to glance at them all one last time.

I walked out the front of the large building that read 'S.T.A.R. Labs'. I shoved my hands into my pockets and started walking towards my car still looking down, ashamed with my decision to dismiss the offer they gave me. As I walked to the car, I felt as though I was being watched. I turn to look up and to the left and I saw him. Zoom stood tall on the top of the building across the street from me. His Demonic all black suit made from leather, stood out in the light of day, dark blue lightning striking all around his body. My eyes widened with fear when I realized he was staring directly at me and I shut them tight. "Please don't be real, please, please_, _please_._" I whispered to myself. When I opened them up back up, he was gone. I looked around thankful it wasn't real. _Thank Go- _before I could even finish that thought, Zoom had picked me up and sped me to the wall, slamming my back so hard against it, the wall broke in cracks. "ARGH!" I yelled out. I could feel Zooms demonic looking claw wrapped around my neck, pressing me harder against the wall. "They thought they could defeat me, with you? Fight me, with you?" He laughed as he tilted his head up. "They were so wrong about you 'Tommy'." He mocked sarcastically. "You're a pathetic excuse for a Speedster." He said, his voice sounding like the devil's himself. "And a waste of human life." I struggled to get away from the speedsters grip around my neck, but it was too strong. I was choking, suffocating, I couldn't breathe. _I am going to die. _I kept thinking to myself as there was nothing I could've done. "You can't even get your powers to work." He mocked, increasing the grip he had around my neck. My legs now began flailing as I fight to stay above the darkness that threatened to rise to my brain and remain conscious. When Zoom slammed me against the heavy concrete wall, he dislocated my shoulder, and the impact against the wall caused damage all over my body to occur from internal bleeding to scrapes and scratches. Still against the wall, Zoom lifted me up higher off the ground.

All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye I saw some of the blue excess lightning from zoom, rise up his arm. It looked like a shark's fin above water right before it strikes. _I'm sorry Mom, I'm sorry Dad. _I thought to myself, thinking this would be my last thought. When the lightning got to Zooms hand, it jumped off of his black leathery friction proof suit and struck me with immense force. I didn't feel pain like I thought I would, I felt a surge of electricity course through my body, I felt the rush of speed and power being released within my cells, the electricity touched every nerve in my body until it reached my brain, I felt the electricity even run through my eyes. Zoom tilted his head in confusion. "No…" He whispered in a lower but more human voice. "No this can't be possible!" He yelled out in his monstrous voice backing up. He released the grip he had on my neck and I fell to the ground with a thud, I struggled to breathe gasping for air. "NO!" Zoom yelled once more before he took off speeding away until he was out of sight from Star Labs. I managed to push myself up into a kneeling position for a few moments trying to catch my breath after being almost strangled to death.

"Holy crap, that was terrifying." I whispered in between heavy breathing. I stood up from my kneeling position using my hand for support on the broken wall behind me where I had almost met death and turned around to see Caitlin, Cisco, and , staring at me. Cisco started running towards me, "Yes, yes, yes dude!" He cried out as he made is way towards me. "Do you know what just happened?" He asked enthusiastically as he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah Zooms lighting just zapped me and Jump Started my powers." I announced, still trying to catch my breath. Cisco was so happy and you could tell by that big grin of his face. I looked down at my hand, it was vibrating really fast. I glanced back and forth between my hand and Cisco before either one of us said something. "Wow, this feels amazing." I stated, still looking down at my hand. "I'm sure it does pal." Cisco said, still with a big smile still on his face. "And guess what?" He asked me. "What?" I asked plainly. "You scared Zoom away. You actually scared him. Man, he ran from you like a baby!" He laughed. Cisco helped me limp over to Caitlin and Dr. Wells. "So do I get a cool name and outfit as well?" I asked jokingly. Cisco, still with a big grin on his face, nodded and said, "It'll come to me, we just need to see what you can do first." When we reached Caitlin and Wells, only then did I remember that something wasn't right. "Argh." I breathed out as I tried to move my arm. "Hey guys, some things not right." I stated as I groaned in agony when I tried to move it again. "What's wrong?" Caitlin asked, slightly tilting her head in both wonder and concern. "My shoulder, I think Zoom dislocated it." I said with a wince. "Not to worry." Caitlin said with a smile, "I can help with that." She told me as she pointed to the doors leading back inside Star Labs.

As we got into the cortex, they led me to a room with a hospital bed and equipment, the room was fairly big, and there was a bed in the middle of the room that looked just like a gurney but more comfortable. There were shelves all over the room with medical supplies. "Here, sit." Caitlin said as she patted the white bed. I limped over to her and sat down on the edge of the bed. "You might want to lay back." Cisco said out loud as he left to go back into the cortex. As I shifted my body to bring my legs up on the bed and lay back, I let out a whimper of pain. "Okay, this is going to hurt… A lot…" she told me with a forced smile. She placed both of her hands on my arm, one on the shoulder and the other on my forearm. "On three." She told me. I nodded, "One…" _POP, SNAP. _I felt intense pain shoot through my arm. "GAHH!" I screamed as I clutched my arm. "What happened to three Caitlin?" I asked a bitterly. "Think of it like ripping off a bandaid to get it over with." She told me with a shrug and laughed. "Well thank you for helping me." I told her sincerely before moving to get up. "Now that you have unleashed the speed force throughout your body, you will heal remarkably fast, in a day or so, it will be like nothing ever happened." she stated with a smile and a hand on my shoulder. I stood up and walked to the cortex where I found Cisco and Wells trying to solve some sort of equation on a clear glass pane. I guess it was supposed to be a whiteboard just transparent. "Hey, what's that you guys are working on?" I asked while walking over to them, still clutching my shoulder. "Don't you worry about anything right now Mr. Cutter, you-" Please, call me Thomas." I interrupted Dr. Wells while putting my hand up to tell him to stop. "Alright Thomas, likewise, call me Harry." He said, nodding approval. "We think that you should just get some rest for now. There will be more than enough for you to help with tomorrow." Wells stated slightly tilting his head. "No, no. I'm fine, let me help." I told them both shrugging off the pain I still felt. "Okay." Cisco said, nodding his head, "Just take it easy until you're healed. Then we can take your powers out for a spin." He said with a smile. "Alright sweet." I said nodding and reaching to pull a chair over to sit and observe the equations that Cisco and Harry were working on.

A few hours or so go by and Cisco and Harry are still trying to solve their so-called 'speed force equation'. "So, what happened to Barry?" I asked curiously, finally breaking the silence that covered the room while Harry and Cisco worked. "Joe, Barry's adoptive father, has a son. His name is Wally West." Cisco said as he placed the yellow dry erase marker down on a table nearby and turned to face me. "Yeah, I've met Wally a few times at the Precinct." I told them. "Well, a few months ago, Zoom kidnapped him, and the only way Zoom would let him go was for the flash or Barry to give zoom his speed. If he didn't, Zoom would've killed Wally. Barry knew what he had to do, so he saved wally." Cisco said in a low and upset voice. "I never knew that he stole Wally." I stated, rubbing the back of my head. "So how did he die?" I asked cautiously not wanting to evoke unwanted feelings. "Harry thought we could replicate a controlled particle accelerator explosion to give Barry his speed back but it incinerated him instead. But he isn't dead!" Cisco replied as he waved his hands in the air in surprise and sorrow. "So what happened then?" I asked again. "Barry is alive, but he's stuck in the speed force." He told me. _Wow the speed force! This is incredible! _I thought to myself. "How can I help get him out?" I asked sincere and determined. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I was finally willing to do what they needed help with. These people needed me. I felt that after everything the Flash has done for this city, it's my turn to help. "You can't." Harry said in a low tone. You could sense a 'but' coming on, "But you will be able to do something soon." Harry said with a smirk as he pointed at me. "I like where this is going." I said out loud, nodding my head and smiling. Cisco placed his hand on my shoulder and smiled. "You're going to get fast enough to run into the speed force and get Barry out!" Harry looked me dead in the eyes and told me, "Thomas... you're going to save the Flash."

**_Thank you for reading chapter 1, remember to leave feedback for this story as it will help a lot._**


	2. Zoom's Reign Chapter 2

"Alright Thomas," Cisco said as he walked up to me on the airfield known as, 'Ferris Air.' "This is a two-way headset with a camera I modified, typically designed to combat battlefield impulse noises but in this case, it will combat potential sonic booms. It's the same headset I had Barry use when we first tested his vitals while he ran. The only difference is this will be the first time that you use your powers other than that little vibrating hand thingy." he said as he mimicked what happened after Zoom attacked me. "Dude, if I rupture the sound barrier and make a sonic boom, that would be insane!" I said in excitement as Cisco tighten the headset the red helmet I was about to wear. "The first time Barry ran this runway, he crashed and fractured his hand. Just be careful alright?" Caitlin told me before she walked back to the star labs truck behind me. "Got it, I'll be careful." I told her as I strapped the helmet onto my head. I turned around to look at Caitlin Cisco and Wells, "Hey before we do this, does anyone want to take a bet that I will be faster than Barry when he first tried this?" I said jokingly and all of them chuckled.

"Okay Thomas, on my mark!" Cisco yelled out from a couple of feet away. I bent down and kneeled into a runner's position. "Three!" there was a short pause "Two!" another short pause. I felt the electricity travel through my body again, a rush of adrenaline spiked inside me, the electricity flickered in my eyes and I was ready. "One-" Before Cisco could even finish saying one, I took off down the runway as fast as I could, a gust of strong winds from my speed pushed over everyone who was behind me, _oh oops…_ I thought to myself and laughed. It was as if everything around me froze, it was so peaceful and calm. I reached the end of the runway in what felt like twenty seconds. As I reached the end of the runway I began to lose my balance, I went to stop myself but ended up tripping over my own feet and fell to the ground, bouncing off of the hot asphalt until I reached the grass and rolled to a stop. Unaware of the scrapes and scratches all over me from falling, I pushed myself up and laughed. "Wow twenty seconds to get to the end of a runway, that's insane! These powers are insane!" I exclaimed to myself.

"Thomas? Hello?" A voice called out. "Oh, sorry Cisco." I laughed. I guess I forgot they were there. I pressed down on my earpiece, "What's up?" I asked, looking back down the runway to try and see them. "Dude that was some fall, are you alright?" He asked me worriedly. "Yeah, no I'm fine. That was so awesome!" I told him in response. "Okay, well you should get back here so we can show you something." He told me with excitement ringing in his voice. "Alright man, on my way." I cracked a smile and bent into the runner's position just like before, and whoosh I was off to the other end of the runway. This time, I jumped into a slide to stop. Skidding across the asphalt, sparks bounce from the friction of my shoes against the ground. "Dude Thomas!" Cisco exclaimed while walking over to meet me. "Do you have any idea how fast you just went?" He asked me while walking over to me with a smile, "No, but I know that it only took me 20 seconds to get over there!" I responded excitedly. "Thomas," Wells chimed in, "You broke the sound barrier." All three of them looked at me with smiles on their faces and I returned the smile. "So how fast was I going? 800?" I asked curiously while reaching to take the helmet off, "Thomas dude, you went 1,029 miles per hour, you reached the end of the runway in 4 freaking seconds!" Cisco told me with the biggest smile and my eyes widened. "4 seconds?" I asked in complete shock. "Holy…" "And for the record, Barry only went about 300-400 miles per hour the first time he ran this airfield." Caitlin said to me. "You're telling me I'm faster than Barry?" "Not exactly, just faster than he was when he first started." she told me smiling. "About a month before Barry got trapped in the speed force, his max speed was about 1500 average. The fastest he's ever gone was Mach 3.3 but only for a second." Wells said to me with a serious face. "So he reached 2,500 miles per hour? That's crazy! How fast is Zoom?" I asked curiously. "There the thing, Zoom is about seven times faster than you at this point…" Cisco said with a frown. I walked over to the tent we had set up with water bottles underneath it and grabbed one. "You mean to tell me, Zoom can run 7,000 miles faster than me?" I asked rhetorically as I went to sit down. "Look Thomas, this is your first time running, and I mean damn you can move but with some training and practice, you could open a portal to the speed force and get Barry out. After that, you both can take Zoom together." Cisco told me with a smile. I took a sip of water and wiped the sweat from my forehead. "Before Zoom took Barry's speed, his max was only 4,200 miles per hour. Barry's added speed made it so he gained an extra 3,000 miles per hour speed limit." Cisco explained as he sat down next to me. "Alright, where do we start?" I asked as I took another sip of water.

**One Week Later**

It was the annoying sound of my alarm clock that woke me up this morning, the clock read "9:40" in big red numbers. I hit the snooze button and rolled over to the other side of my bed and pulled the covers back over me, "Just a few more minutes." I yawned out. 5 minutes go by and the alarm clock went off again, "Oh fine, I'm up!" I growled annoyed. "9:45" I whispered to myself as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Then it hit me. "Shoot! I'm going to be late for work!" I threw the covers off of me and stood up using my super speed to rush over to the closest to grab some clothes. I turned to the mirror and looked at myself, "This will have to do." I told myself as I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I was done using the bathroom to get ready, I looked in the mirror, smiled and zoomed out of the front door into the hallway of my apartment building, and locked the door. "That's a new record!" I laughed as I finished locking the door. "30 seconds to get ready, not bad."

As I arrived to work, police officers rushed out of the office doors and ran past me into the elevators, and I saw Detective West on the way too and I grabbed his arm, "Hey Joe, what's going on?" I asked curiously. "We have a homicide at Jitters and the perp may still be there, don't go anywhere, we might need you at the scene soon." He told me as he made his way again to the elevators. "Huh." I quietly stated as he walked off. A homicide at jitters was an interesting place to kill someone, it seems as though everything happens there. I started to walk up the stairs to get to my lab. When I got to the top of the stairs, my phone started ringing, I pulled it out of my pocket and looked down at the number. Cisco was calling me, "Yeah, what's up?" I answered. "Hey Thomas, when can you get to Star Labs?" He asked me, "I can come in a few minutes, why?" I asked curiously. "There's no rush, get here when you can." Cisco told me, excitement was in his voice. "Okay, I'll see you in a little bit man." I told him as I hung up. I made my way down the hall to my lab and got right to work, finishing my work from yesterday's crime scene. Lately, suspects have been killing themselves after they commit grand thefts, yesterday's suspect died from jumping off of a building after he robbed the 'Central City Museum.' He took some special Russian totem and did something with it before he killed himself. Officers and detectives are still trying to find where he hid it, but haven't had any luck. Even I have tried looking for it but still came up with nothing. And none of the suspects or maybe victims, I don't know what to call them actually. None of them had any priors, warrants, arrests, or anything out of the sorts, they all worked at the places they robbed from as well. There have been about three robberies so far that resulted in deaths just this week. One was the Bank where $500,000 was stolen, another was at Mercury Labs where they stole a classified piece of technology, and the other one was the museum yesterday.

My phone began to ring again and it was Cisco, I picked and I answered, "Yeah?" "Thomas! officers are being killed at Jitters! Get down there and hurry!" He yelled through the phone. He was clearly worried judging from the sound of his voice. "On my way." I told him as I hung up. I felt the electricity run through me, and the lightning flicker in my eyes, and I shot out of the lab. Without a suit, I had no idea how I was going to stop the killer and slow down at the same time. _Wonder when Cisco will make me my suit? _I thought to myself. I'm running to Jitters as fast as I can, so fast that everything around me almost froze, I've reached 1,300 miles per hour since last week. As I approach the coffee shop, I see all the cops shooting at each other, killing one another. "What the hell?" I questioned. Confusion broke through my brain. But I didn't see Joe, there was no Joe for the time being I was at least grateful for that. I placed my two-way radio headset over my ear to hear Cisco. "Cisco my comms are on." I said, holding my earpiece to talk. "Okay Thomas, what do you see?" He asked me immediately. "The cops in there are shooting at each other!" I yelled over the sound of gunshots. "You need to stop them, try handcuffing them all, they are under some sort of whammy." He told me. "Whammy?" I asked him, "Yeah, kinda like being under a spell, it can make you do stuff you normally wouldn't." He responded. "Go Thomas, you're wasting time!" He yelled at me. "Right, sorry." I Sped into the building and within 5 seconds every cop was handcuffed to a table or a pipe in the building and unconscious. I took all of their guns were away too. After I stopped them from killing each other, I did an entire sweep of the block just to make sure whoever whammied them was gone or incarcerated. I stopped on the street outside of Jitters. "Oh man, that was a handful." I breathed out, a little exhausted from all the running. "Thomas?" A familiar voice called out as a car door slammed. "Damn." I breathed out quietly as I hung my head lower. "Heeyy Joe..." I stretched out. "You're fast." He stated while studying me. "You're a metahuman?" "Uh… Yeah." I told him hesitantly. "How? When?" He Questioned. "It was latent dark matter that was activated about a week ago." I explained to him. "Do you know about Star Labs?" Joe asked curiously scratching the side of his head. "Yeah, Cisco Caitlin and Wells have been helping me a lot actually, this was the first crime that I stopped since I got my powers." I explained. He nodded and leaned against his car. "You'd think they would tell me about this." He said bitterly. "Thomas, you there?" I heard a voice say from my ear. "Yeah, I'm here with Joe, what's up?" I asked Cisco. Come to Star Labs, there is something you should see." he told me, excitement still ringing in his voice. I turned to look at Joe, "Hey, I have to get back to Star Labs. I'll get to the scene after that." I told Joe, he nodded. "Alright." he told me.

I got to Star Labs In a few seconds, 10 to 15 maybe, when I did, I sped to the elevator and took it down to the Cortex. _Ding_ the elevator sounded, and I walked out into the hallway and into the Cortex. "Thomas, glad you're here man, check it out!" Cisco exclaimed while pointing to a white box. "What is it?" I asked confused. "Why don't you open it and find out." He told me with a smirk on his face. I walked over to the table where the box lay and opened it. My eyes widened. "Holy- Did you make this for me?" I asked him excitedly still holding onto the box. He nodded with a smile. It was like it was glowing out of the box, kind of like in the cartoons, only it wasn't. "You wanna take it for a spin?" He asked me as he nodded at it. "I sure do!" I told him excitedly and picked up the suit.

I took but a second for me to get into my new suit, it was friction proof, just like Barry's. It was crimson, maybe a little darker and had a gold lining on the elbow and knee creases, it was kind of like a single suit onesie. The lining was like a sharp lightning bolt and the cowl had a chin strap. I looked down at my suit, wow this is awesome. "Cisco- This, this is incredible!" I Told him, and gave him a bro hug not to make it awkward. "That's not the only thing I made either." He said with a grin. "Check it," he said as he pulled a circular thing from his jacket pocket. "This is your emblem!" He told me as he attached it onto the front of the suit. The emblem was so cool, It had a gold outline of the circle and a white background, but on top of the background were two gold lightning bolts that crossed over one another from the right and the left sides. "A new suit and a cool emblem." I laughed still looking down at how well the suit fit me. "And a name." Cisco said, once again smiling, "I was thinking… maybe 'SpeedStream'." He said, raising his eyebrows up and down. "Huh," I said out loud, thinking about the name. "I like it!" I told Cisco excitedly giving him a high five. "Hey thanks man, I mean it, I know Caitlin and Wells aren't here right now but all of you have helped me so much, and I mean it when I say, thank you guys so much. I wish I could tell them right now too." Cisco nodded and smiled, "Welcome to the family Thomas." He told me with a fist bump.

**A Few Days Later**

It's about 9:30 pm, I'm in my lab at the CCPD Precinct and it's really quiet. Most of the detectives left to go home but a few of the police officers are still here writing reports on their patrols for today. It started to rain about an hour ago but just a few minutes in, thunder began to roar in the clouds creating an ominous feeling. I kept getting the feeling like I was being watched from across the street but I was on the top floor already so the only way that could be possible is from the rooftop across the street. I keep glancing over just to be sure.

The clock read 11:50 pm now and I was Just finishing up the rest of the reports from the suicide suspects. I was tired but I really didn't feel like using my super speed to hurry things along tonight. Sometimes it felt good to act normal, and this was one day I could do that, no training, no crimes for me to fight, nothing. So I sat and finished the reports. "Done. Wow, that was a lot." I stood up and grabbed my coat from the back of my chair and put it on. There was still a thunderstorm outside, it lasted for just about 3 hours now. "Now I can go home." I said out loud to myself as I began to walk. Lightning struck outside the window just as I was about to leave through the door into the hallway and I felt a strange presence behind me like something was definitely watching me this time. I slowly turned my head in curiosity but cautiously, when I couldn't turn my head anymore, I turned the rest of my body. In the dark night, across the street Zoom stood on the building. Blue lighting striking around his body and lighting up his suit. Besides for the actual lighting from the rain you could barely see him standing there only his lightning. But that's all he did, he just stood there, watching. I slapped myself in the head repeatedly. _That's not really him. _I kept telling myself. We held eye contact for a moment, he tilted his head and sped off out of sight. My hatred for him lit up my body with anger when he ran off because at that point I knew he really was there watching me. The anger brought lightning from the speed force out of me with orange lightning striking all around my body, this was the first time lightning has actually appeared from me. When I realized how obvious I was being with my powers, I tried to calm myself down. _Why was he watching me? How long has he been watching me? _The questions in my mind only outraged me even more. "Okay, breeaathe Thomas," I told myself to calm down. "Zooms gone and you're okay now." I turned around and used my super speed to get from the station to my apartment.

It's 3:00 in the morning now and I woke up to my phone ringing. "Oh what now?" I grouched rhetorically before grabbing the phone and answering it. "Yeah, hello?" I answered bitterly from the sleep that was interrupted. "Thomas, It's the Museum again!" Cisco's voice ran through my ears like an air horn, he yelled so loud. "Ugh." I groaned as I rubbed my eyes with one hand. "Don't you sleep?" I asked Cisco annoyed. "Stop wasting time. Hurry go!" He replied to me. "Okay, okay, I'm on my way." I hung up and stood off of my bed and stretched while releasing a yawn. I walked over to my closet and grabbed my suit, speed dressed and rushed out of the door with a trail of lightning following.

I reached the museum and skidded to a stop just outside on the street. "Okay Cisco, what are we dealing with? How many? Do they have guns?" I asked too many questions but it was 3 in the morning, I get the right to. "Okay Thomas, there's one guy, and he only has a knife." Cisco told me as he watched through the security cameras. "I'm going to try and talk to him first before punching him." I told Cisco Heroically. "Fine by me." He said. I sped inside the building where the robber was, and stopped him from grabbing a famous renaissance era portrait off of the wall. "Hey buddy, that's not yours." I told him as I spun him the other direction. He just stood there with a blank stare looking at me. "Okay well that's not creepy." I said out loud to try and provoke some sort of response from the robber. "Not a talker huh?" I asked him. "Okay why don't we put down the knife before someone gets hurt, alright?" I asked politely while pointing at him. The man was older, he had gray hair and looked like he was homeless. At that moment, a tear ran down the man's face. "You okay pal?" I questioned in confusion. He raised the knife with both hands and the blade pointing at his body and attempted to bring it to his stomach. Before the man could take his life, I used as much speed as possible to get to him before he did it, "NO!" I yelled as I got to him. I grabbed the knife and knocked him out with a single uppercut to the chin. As the man fell to the ground I stood there, holding the knife in confusion. "Cisco, this man almost jus-" I was cut off, "I know, I saw the whole thing." Cisco remarked. "Okay, but the real question is, why?" I responded to him glancing down at the knife. "I'm going to bring him to the police." I told Cisco as I began to pick the man off of the ground. "Okay Thomas but meet me at star labs before you go home, Caitlin and Wells just got back." "Got it Cisco," I responded, as I started to drag the old man up on to my shoulder.

Then all of a sudden I felt my body go into complete lockdown mode. I dropped the man and stood up straight, unable to speak or move. _What's going on? What's happening to me? _I asked myself in my head. I was unable to speak or move and I was barely able to think, so much was happening. Immense pain sprawled through my brain and there was nothing I could do, I just stood there in my body unable to move and I can barely even think. Through the comms I heard a feminine voice, most likely Caitlin, say something, "His brain waves are showing irregular signs of intrusion, he's experiencing some sort of seizure and his brain isn't the cause." And then Cisco said something, "Thomas?! Thomas?! Hey buddy can you hear me? Thomas?!" I could barely hear them. Still unable to talk the pain stopped, and I dropped to my knees. Still unable to move, something began to control me, I was moving but it wasn't me. I picked up the knife and held it above me, still on my knees. "Welcome to your death pretender." A dark and mysterious voice said, his voice rang through my head. "Thomas no! Put the knife down, fight this man you're being controlled!" I heard Cisco this time, I tried to resist but it was no use. I raised the knife up higher and It was over. I stabbed myself on the right side of my lower abdomen and whatever was controlling me left, I had gained full control of my body again just in time to feel all the pain from the impalement of the knife. "GAHH" I screamed out in pain as I lay on the floor struggling to keep my head up to see the protruding knife in my side. "Thomas, can you run?" Caitlin asked me with a terrified tone over the comms. "No, I can barely move. Guys, I'm sorry." I told them all over comms knowing I wasn't going to be able to get Barry back out of the speed force, I thought I was about to die and then I blacked out. My death would not mean anything, I let them all down.

All I remember after blacking out is slowly regaining consciousness while being dragged out of the building. I saw Harry and Cisco holding onto both of my arms, then I slipped back to darkness. The next time I woke again in a star labs van where I lay bleeding with Caitlin and Cisco talking about me, the knife lay beside me and Caitlin sat next to me. She was putting pressure on my wound to try and stop the bleeding. I could make out what they were saying. "We need to cease the bleeding." She said, still putting pressure my wound. "When the bleeding stops, his vitals will stabilize." Assuming because Harry wasn't with them anymore, he was the one driving. The van hit a bump and bounced me up a foot in the air, when I landed back down pain shot through my body, originating from the stab wound. "Ugh." I moaned in pain. "Harry a little easier on the speed bumps please." Cisco yelled out both bitterly and sarcastically using his hand to amplify his voice. "Don't worry Thomas, we're going to fix this." Cisco said while patting me on the shoulder. I gathered just enough energy to raise my head off the floor of the van, "Thank you, guys." My head dropped back to the floor and I slipped into a deep sleep.

**A Day Later**

My eyes began to flutter open, slowly I continued to grow conscious of my surroundings. There was the blurry shape of a human standing over me, as my sight came back to me, I started recognizing particular details of his face "Hey buddy." I was greeted with a smile from Cisco looking down at me. "Cisco? How long was I out?" I asked as I began to sit up. "Dude you were out for about a day." He told me with a chuckle. I looked around the room to notice I was in the same medical room as before when Caitlin put my shoulder back into place a two weeks ago. I started to remember the horror of what happened the other night. "Cisco, it was like I was being controlled by something man. I mean I was conscious of what I was doing but I couldn't stop myself from doing it. And the brain aneurysm? What was that about?" "Woah, woah, woah." Cisco stopped me as he put his hands up to calm me. "You just recovered from a major brain seizure and stabbed yourself, take it easy for a moment." "Look man I'm fine, my speed healing already kicked in and I'm as good as new now." I told him reassuringly. "Okay. But at least let Caitlin do some tests to make sure." He told me comfortingly placing his hand on my shoulder. "Let me go get her real fast."

A few moments go by of me laying back and staring at the ceiling just collecting my thoughts when Caitlin walks in with a tablet. "You're awake." She said with a smile as she continued walking towards me. "So what kind of tests are you going to run?" I asked her curiously while nodding in the direction of the tablet. "I'm just going to test to see if your brain scans show any lasting signs of intrusion like the night before." She told me with a soft voice. A few moments go by while she checks and I can't help but think of the nightmare I lived the other night. "Well, you seem to be all good, and your knife wound is fully healed. I think your good to go." She told me as she turned off the tablet. "Great!" I said as I stood up from the bed, pushing away all the bad memories from the museum. "Okay, so when you say signs of intrusion, are you saying I was telepathically controlled by a metahuman?" I asked while rubbing my side where the knife entered. "Yep, you sure were." Cisco stated as he walked back in. "It was freaky as hell to watch as well." Confusion started to flood my brain with questions. _Telepathy? That's new. _I thought to myself. My eyebrows narrowed, "It all makes sense now. The suicides are not actual suicides, it's whoever is controlling the robber who kills them. He has them steal, then he kills them to make it look like it was a suicide and he runs off with the stolen items." I stated as I rubbed the spot where I was stabbed once again in remembrance. Whoever this guy was, there was no way for the police to catch him. "Cisco could you get onto the criminal database from the CCPD and snoop around to hopefully figure out who this guy is?" I asked him while pointing at the consoles in the back of the Cortex. "Yep, I'm on it." He stated as he walked out of the room. Caitlin looked at me, "What will you be doing?" She asked. "I will be going to grab something to eat. I'm famished." I responded with a smile.

**A Few Hours Later**

I walk back into the Star Labs Cortex after coming back from Big Belly Burger. It's been a few hours so I assumed he had to have found something by now. "Man this whole needing to eat 10,000 calories a day thing is both a blessing and a curse." I said out loud while taking a sip of my drink. "Hey Cisco?" I said, walking up behind him. "Did you find anything on our meta?" "I've been sitting here for hours and still haven't found a single thing." He said, lightly banging his head on the desk. Harry walked in now, "Ramon, have you tried Vibing yet?" He asked him. _Vibing? _I thought to myself. "No Harry, I told you It freaks me out." Cisco snapped at him turning in his chair to make eye contact. "Ramon, we need to find this metahuman before he hurts anyone else or worse." Harry glanced at me, "Kill him." I looked to Cisco, "What's he talking about? Vibing?" I asked him. "Ramon, you didn't tell him?" Wells asked with disappointment. Cisco returned a glare to Harry, "Look I have powers." He told me with shame. My eyes widened just a little to the surprise. "I get these visions, They allow me to see things before they happen or in this case find people." "Why didn't you say something about them before?" I asked confused. "I'm terrified of these powers, and honestly I felt normal not telling you about them, I haven't felt normal in a long time." he looked up at me, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just wanted to feel normal for a change, you know?" He apologized. "I'm not mad at you for not telling me, I just wish you did," I told him with a pat on the shoulder and a sincere smile. "Harry is right though," I told him, removing my hand. "You're going to need to vibe his location if we want to stop him." Cisco nodded. "There is just one problem." He mentioned hesitantly. "What's that?" I asked curiously wondering what it could be. "I need to touch something to find his location. We don't have anything that belongs to him or that he's touched because got rid of the knife." He said sadly letting his head droop a little bit. I began to ponder the possible answers to this problem. My brain lit up, "That's not necessarily true." I stated while pointing at him. "Maybe if you touch my side where the knife went through, It will be enough?" I asked, unsure how his powers even really work. "I mean that might work. Right?" "He's onto something Ramon," Wells said with a nod. "It could work." Cisco glanced at both of us before making his decision. "I'll do it." He said. "Lift up your shirt Thomas."

Caitlin walked in on the conversation just in time to here Cisco say that and she let out a laugh. "Caitlin, why do you always walk in on these conversations without any context." He asked rhetorically. Caitlin and I shared a laugh this time. "Cisco is going to see if he can vibe this meta with the healed stab wound from the other night." I told her. "Gotcha." She smiled. "You ready Cisco?" I asked to make sure he was okay with it. "Yes. Can we just get this over with." Cisco sighed. I pull the bottom of my shirt up and over the side where I was stabbed and he put on a weird pair of goggles. Or was it glasses? I couldn't really tell. "Nice glasses." I remarked to lighten the mood once again. "Thanks, I got them off of my dead doppelganger." He said with sad eyes. _Doppelganger? _I thought. I brushed it off for the time being though. Cisco reached slowly to my side until he touched it with his hand. He gasped a ghostly groan and within seconds he was in vibe time. After he was done with the vision, he was able to tell what he saw.

"Okay he is tall, short black hair, and tanish white skin, with a light bluish gray eye color," Cisco told me from his vision. "And one more thing." He said reluctantly, he glanced at Harry. "He isn't from this earth." "From this earth?" I questioned anxiously. "You mean he's an alien from space?" "No I mean he's from another Earth." Cisco told me as he laughed. "Another earth?" I paused. "Are you talking about the multiverse theory?" I asked excitedly. "Yes Thomas, I thought you knew that already." He asked rhetorically. I scratched the back of my head in confusion. "What did you think we meant when we said Harry was from earth 2?" Caitlin asked jokingly. "I thought you meant 'Earth' 'Also'," I replied playfully agitated. They all sighed at me and my face grew red. "Okay, so this metahuman who can control minds and the movement of your body is from a parallel universe, the same one Harry is from," I asked myself out loud trying to make it not seem crazy. "And let me guess who else is from Earth 2." I sighed and rubbed my eyes with one hand. "Zoom." This was all so new, so much has happened these past 2 weeks so far, it was becoming overwhelming. "So, Zoom what? Brought this meta over to kill me?" I asked with a dramatically impatient tone. Harry nodded, "He did this to Barry as well." He said. I already hated Zoom, and the fact that he brought a meta from his earth to kill me made me hate him even more. If you ask me, Zooms a coward. He won't even kill me himself. "Zoom needs something from me guys." I told the three of them. Caitlin glanced towards Cisco and then Harry before saying, "Zoom wants your speed." It looked like the three of them all found that out at the same time. "He stole Barry's speed, and now he wants to be the fastest man alive 'again' without a competition." Harry said motioning his hand to me. "He wants me to get stronger then. More speed for him to take that way." I explained out loud so they could hear. "Okay wait," Cisco said putting up his hands to stop us. "Why don't we focus on one thing at a time?" He glanced around at all of us once. "Harry, what did they call him on your earth?" I asked curiously. "They don't have a name for him, I've never even seen or heard of him until just now." He told me seriously. I shook my head and laughed, "Okay so how do we stop someone we know nothing about?"

Caitlin grabbed the tablet that she used to run tests on me earlier, "Actually we know how he psychically attacked you." She said holding up the tablet. "The reason you couldn't speak is because he took control of your Occipital Lobe, that's the part of the brain that controls speech. You couldn't move because he took control of your cerebellum as well, the part that controls balance and movement." _Great a meta who can control more than one part of my brain. _I thought to myself l. "Okay, but how did he give me a brain seizure?" I asked bitterly while pointing to my head. "He was able to take control of your mind the same way Grodd took control of Barry's when he went up against his the first time. He too experienced the same thing you did, you just experienced it in an amplified state." She explained, "If you didn't have your powers, I'm not sure you'd even be alive right now Thomas." I noticed Cisco was no longer in his chair, "Hey, where did Cisco go?" I asked curiously pointing to the empty chair. Cisco walked back into the room carrying a tiny white but box, "I've been saving these bad boys for the next time Grodd attacks." He said as he opened the tiny white box. What lay inside were two earpieces that lit up with a light blue glow. "I call these the-" There was a sudden pause, "The-" another sudden pause. "You don't have a name for them do you?" Caitlin laughed. "It'll come to me… Eventually." Cisco stated he picked one of the earpieces up. "I can attach this to your comms, and they will probably protect you from this meta." My eyes widened in surprise at what he just said. "Probably?" I asked confused and sat down in the chair Cisco moved from to get the earpieces. "Well, when Grodd psychically attacked Barry, his attack wasn't as strong as this guys." He responded sarcastically. "Look Cisco, I like the Idea, I do but I would rather not die out there because it didn't work. Could you make sure they will work? Please?" Cisco's eyes narrowed at what I said. "Yeah, I guess I can run a few more tests on these." He stated before putting the earpiece back in the box and walking out of the Cortex to his workshop.

There was something about this guy that was really unsettling, he felt so much more dangerous than Zoom. Caitlin and I exchanged looks, "What's wrong?" She asked me in a cautious but sensitive tone, not knowing if I wanted to talk about what was bothering me. "It's just this guy, he just seems so… So much more dangerous than Zoom. I just don't get why he would trust this guy to do his dirty work when guy can literally make you kill yourself." I stated rubbing my closed eyes with my fingers. She moved closer to me and placed her hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll stop this guy." She said, "We always do." I looked at her and smiled. "Okay, I have to get back to the station, Joe need's me to run a DNA scan on a murder weapon." I told Harry and Caitlin as I got up. "Alright." Harry commented before getting up from his chair and walking off and Caitlin nodded. "See you guys later," I told them. I grabbed my coat from the chair and walked out to the hallway.

My phone started to buzz and I pulled it out of my pocket to check who it was. "Issac? What's up man?" I answered, "Hey Tom, how have you been?" He answered my question with a question. It was odd. "I've been good actually, do you want to hang out sometime soon?" I asked him as I continued to walk down the hall to the elevator. "Sure, I'm free tomorrow. Does that work?" He asked me. "Uh yeah, that works." I answered him as I got in the elevator. "Great, see you then Tom." He responded to me. We both put our phones away and the elevator opened, a flicker of electricity sparked in my eyes and I flew out the doors and headed to the Precinct.


	3. Zoom's Reign Chapter 3

_**If you're still reading this, it means you like my story haha thank you for the support you have given me throughout the course of writing this. I have put a lot of time and effort into this story and I thank you for your constant support. there will be about 2 more chapters after this please enjoy.**_

**Jitters Coffee House**

It's my day off today and the only plans I have are to go see Isaac and meet at Jitters. "Hey Thomas!" A voice called out as I walked in through the door. "Over here." I turned to see who it was and sure enough, it was Isaac, motioning for me to come to sit by him. "Hey Isaac, long time no see man." I greeted him with a dap. I haven't even talked to Isaac since before I got my powers a couple of weeks ago, and he doesn't even know that I have powers. "You said it, brother!" He responded as we sat down. "How have you been Tom?" He asked as he tilted his head to the question. "It's been a few weeks since we last talked Isaac." I responded to him as I laughed, "I'm sorry about that, it's been a little busy." Someone pulled his attention, "Isaac, your coffee's are ready." It was the barista calling out to him to grab his drinks. "Oh yeah I got us both coffees, I knew you would try to buy them and you always do, so I bought them before you got here." He laughed as he stood up to get the two mugs of caffeine. "You're evolving," I laughed as I pulled my wallet out, "Here at least let me pay for mine." I insisted as I handed him a $5 bill. Isaac walked back over to the seats and set the cups down. "No no." He pushed my hand back. "This one's on me Tom." I nodded and picked up my hot coffee cup, "Wow this is hot." I said out loud as I finished taking a sip from my coffee.

"Any Interesting cases lately?" Isaac asked as he opened a sugar packet and poured it into his coffee. "None that I can share yet." I laughed as I took another sip of my coffee. Isaac looked at me with persuasive eyes. "Come on Tom, you know I'm not going to say anything." He explained. "Yeah yeah, okay there is one thing," I told him while lowering my voice and leaning closer, Isaac did the same. "So here's what's been happening, recently people have been doing... stuff…" I told him quietly looking around. "What kind of stuff?" He questioned quietly, I looked around again to make sure no one was watching or listening. "The kind of stuff that I can't talk about with you," I told him with a chuckle and backed up. "Oh wow Thomas," Isaac laughed, "Fine don't tell me, I'll break you eventually." He joked as he picked up his cup. "Yeah good luck with that," I told him as I also took a sip of my hot drink. Isaac's phone started to ring, "Aw man," He said out loud as he saw who it was. "It's work, I have to go Tom, I'm sorry." He apologized. "That's alright man I get it," I told him understandingly. "We can catch up again soon I promise." He said as he got up to leave, he came over to me to fist bump me and I returned it. As he walked off I looked around to make sure no one was looking and with a flicker of lightning in my eyes, I used my super speed to run up behind Isaac and place a five dollar bill into his wallet. When I sped back to my seat I drank the rest of my coffee and stood up like nothing happened to leave.

**Star Labs One Hour Later**

I walk in just in time to here the start of Cisco's and Harry's arguing, Joe and Caitlin are just standing and smiling at the hilarious confrontation happening right in front of them. "If you're so sure you can build this by yourself then why don't you!" Cisco shouted at Harry. "If you're so sure you can build this by yourself then why don't you!" Harry mocked back at Cisco in a high pitch voice. "Oh wow, that's real mature Harry. And that's not even what I sound like!" Cisco stated, crossing his arms. "What are they arguing about?" I asked Joe while walking over to where he and Caitlin stood. "I honestly have no Idea." Joe chuckled as he leaned against the wall behind him. "I think they're fighting about making an Interdimensional Tether for you." Caitlin leaned in and answered for Joe. "To get Barry out right?" Joe asked, "Not exactly." I Told Joe, "It's so I don't get lost when I go into the Speed Force to _get_ Barry." I explained. Joe nodded and there was a loud bang over in the argument between Cisco and Harry. "Stop throwing my stuff, you child!" Cisco yelled at Harry, "I'll stop throwing your stuff when you stop being an incompetent fool!" Harry yelled back as he threw another tool. I could see that this argument was getting out of hand so I used to speed to rush over and intervene between the two of them. "Okay you two, that's enough!" They both looked at me, "Harry put down that tool." I pointed at him and he glanced back and forth between the tool he held above his head and me. "Now!" and he complied. "What the hell is wrong with you two? Honestly, why can't you two work together like normal adults?" I yelled at both of them and they grew quiet. "This isn't about either one of you right now, okay? I have been working my ass off to get faster! To get Barry back! Now you two do your part and help! _Both_ of you." They both looked at each other before Harry spoke up, "Fine." He said crossing his arms. "But I'm working alone." Cisco rolled his eyes, "Fine by me." Cisco stated as he walked off. "Thank you." I sarcastically remarked before returning to Joe and Caitlin. "Sometimes it feels like we're working with toddlers."

"Dad? Are you in here?" A voice called out from the hallway, "In here honey." Joe responded. A young woman walked in, she was darker and she had black hair and dark brown eyes, I could tell by the recent dialog that this was Iris west, Joe's daughter. "Hey dad, I've been looking all over for you." She said as she hugged him, "Hey Caitlin," She waved. "Hey Iris." "Any news on Barry's situation?" She asked as she took a quick glance at me, "Cisco and Wells are working on the Interdimensional Tether and once they're done with that, the only thing left to do will be for me to get faster so I can open a portal to the Speed Force." I stated with a slight smile. "Thomas, right?" She asked and I nodded in affirmation, "Thank you for everything you have done so far to help us get Barry back home." She smiled and I nodded again, "You're very welcome." She was definitely beautiful, but I knew she was off limits so I was going to keep my distance and besides there is no room for dating right now anyway. "Anyway, Dad can I talk to you in private?" Iris asked Joe. "Sure, Jitters?" He asked, "I'll buy." Iris smiled before she answered, "Well if your buying," And she shrugged and Joe and his daughter walked out of the room and down the hallway.

"Good luck with that." Caitlin said to me with a pat on the shoulder, I turned to look at her, "what do you mean?" I asked her. "Oh please, I saw the way you were looking at her." She laughed, "Before Barry got stuck where he is now, I guess there was _something _going on between the two of them. You showed up too late I'm afraid." She laughed as she walked away. I squinted in defense and followed, "There was no _look,_ Caitlin." I stated bitterly but playfully, "I don't have the time for relationships anyway." She turned around to look at me and shrugged, "All I'm saying is good luck, I know what I saw." She laughed again before walking away. I stood there confused for a second, "Good luck?" I scoffed, "I wasn't even thinking about her that way." There is just way too much going on right now. I rolled my eyes, "Cisco!" I yelled across the Cortex and he walked in from the medical room, "Everything okay?" He asked curiously. "Yeah, I was just heading out to the Bar if you want to come?" I asked him before motioning to the hallway with the elevator. "A Bar? On a Saturday night? Sure why not." He agreed with a smile. "Great let's head out," I told him while nodding for him to follow before walking to the elevator.

**One Hour Later**

After an hour of driving, we reached 'The Black Hammock Bar' located in downtown Central City. "Remind me why you didn't just _run_ us all the way here?" Cisco asked impatiently getting out of passenger seat of my car. "We drove because like you, I too enjoy feeling normal sometimes," I stated as I got out of the driver's seat. We both closed our doors and proceeded to walk towards the Bar, "How do you even know about this place?" Cisco asked me. "I used to come here frequently after my parent's death, it's sort of just like a regular now." I told him while opening the door inside, "I just haven't been here in a couple of weeks." We reached the Bar and sat down on the stools under the counter, "Hey waiter, give me something with lots of ice." Cisco told the Bartender. "Shirley Temple coming right up." The bartender responded, "I will take Beer please." I asked the bartender. "Any kind alright?" The man asked in response and I nodded. The Bar was relatively new, it's only been around for about two years now. The Bar was centered in the middle of the 1st floor and the second floor only consisted of fancier looking balconies and bathroom's, those were for the V.I.P.'s. It was fairly empty tonight though, there were three other people excluding us and the Bartender. In the corner booth seat basically lived a man who always seemed to be drunk or asleep, he was just asleep this time. Or both. "There you are, one Shirley Temple and one cold Beer," The Bartender said as he set our drinks down in front of us. "Thanks." Cisco and I said simultaneously.

I had only a few beers now while Cisco had a beer, shot of whiskey and on top of that, three Shirley Temples. "So…" Cisco started, "I heard the conversation you and Caitlin had earlier." He mumbled while holding his head clearly under the influence. "I think you and Iris would be great together," He mumbled again. "You should-" I cut him off, "Look Cisco, Iris is pretty but I'm quite alright. Besides I don't need a relationship right now anyway, remember Barry? Well, he's still trapped and there isn't any extra _time_ to think about relationships." I told him taking a sip of my drink. "Loud and clear." Cisco said with a salute and a chuckle, "Man you're really hammered tonight aren't you?" I asked Cisco with a laugh. I should feel even a little bit tipsy but I don't. Why didn't I? "Alright buddy, let's go home." I told him as I got down from the barstool and pulled my wallet out. "How much is the tab?" I asked the Bartender, "That will be about $130 tonight sir." He responded and I looked at Cisco, "Really man, did you have to pick such an expensive drink?" I asked him. Cisco grunted and shrugged while I pulled a $100 bill and then a $50 bill out of my wallet, "Keep the change." I told him as I closed my wallet and put it away. "You too have a good night now." The bartender said as he waved us off.

Cisco and I walked out of the bar and made our way towards my parked car, when we got to it I opened the door for him and got in the driver's seat to start the car. "Thanks for tonight Thomas, I think we really needed this." He told me as he leaned back in the passenger seat and closed his eyes. "Don't mention it," I told him as we drove out of the parking lot.

**The Next Morning**

I woke up this morning fine, I mean I literally wasn't affected by the alcohol at all last night and now I realize why. My metabolism runs too fast to become drunk, it neutralized the effect that alcohol had on my body. It sucks but I guess I will just have to find another way to deal with my emotions.

I rolled out of bed when the alarm clock read '8:00' "Better get ready for work." I told myself with a yawn. I walked over to my closet today, I wasn't in any rush today so I took my time. "Uh, okay this will do today." I told myself after looking in the mirror to view my outfit. After I finished messing with my hair and brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I walked out of my bedroom and to the door to leave for work.

I stopped by Jitters on the way to work to grab a coffee but now I was heading up the elevator to get into CCPD. As soon as the elevator opened I hear captain Singh's voice, "Cutter, where are you on the suicide cases?" He asked as he walked up to me. "Uh, they are in my lab, I can go get them for you really fast." "Good go, I need them on my desk in the next ten minutes." He told me as he walked back to his office. I ran at normal speed up the stairs to my lab and grabbed the files and walked down to the Captain's Office. "Here you are Captain, the file's you asked for." told him as I lay them on his desk. "Thank you, Cutter, now go see Joe, he will update you on the recent suicide cases." Singh responded as he motioned with his hand for me to leave. _Great more suicide cases, I will never get a break from this guy. _I thought to myself as I walked over to Joe's desk. "Oh Thomas, come here," Joe called out and I nodded, still walking over to him. Once I reached Joe he started talking about the cases, "Thomas we need to get this meta off the streets." He stated flipping through another case file. "Yeah I know, but we have no leads on this guy, we haven't in quite a while either. It's been almost four days now." I told Joe as I sat down on the chair next to him. "We'll find something soon Thomas, just be patient." Just as he finished that sentence an officer came up to us, "Joe, there's a robbery at the museum again." And Joe looked at me and winked. "Alright let's go get this guy." He told the officer as he stood up. "See you at the scene Thomas." He told me while he walked off.

I grabbed my phone and called Cisco, "Hello?" He answered in a groggy voice. "Cisco there is a robbery happening at the museum, do you have eyes?" I asked as I started walking up to the elevator. "No, I'm not even at Star Labs." He stated, "Ask Caitlin or Harry." I'm beginning to think that the bar wasn't such a good idea last night. "Zero help Cisco." I stated before hanging up. The elevator took me downstairs and I walked out the front door of the precinct to head into a more private location to change. I called Caitlin this time, "Hello?" She answered. "Cait it's Thomas, are you at Star Labs?" I asked her while pulling the cowl over my head and connecting my comms. "Yes, why?" She responded, "I need eyes on the inside of the Museum." I told her, "Switching to comms." I hung up the phone and pressed the earpiece and turned it on. "Okay Thomas, It looks like two guys, both with blank expressions, both with military grade guns." Caitlin told me, "Okay good to know." I told her and began to run in super speed to the Museum. "Anything else?" I asked her, "They have four hostages. And be careful," she told me. "We still don't know for sure if the telepathic intrusion scrambler works 100% yet." "Don't worry Caitlin, It will work," I reassured her before reaching the street outside the Museum. I needed to get all the hostages they had in there out, with a flicker of lightning in my eyes, I sped my way inside so fast that time slowed to my will. I grabbed two hostages at a time and ran them out until all four of them were safely on the street. "Mornin' boy's." I said to the two mind-controlled men and they both turned to look at me, "That picture again?" I noticed they tried to take the same picture the homeless man did. They both raised their guns at me, "Guys come on, you know that I'm faster than a bullet right?" I asked them before using my speed to run and knock them out. Something black on one of the men's arms stood out to me while they hit the ground in a slowed reality. When they both landed I took Zip Ties from one of the goon's bags and tied them both up and inspected the mark. It was a tattoo, but the tattoo seemed familiar, almost like I've seen it before. "That's strange," I said out loud to myself.

Out of nowhere, I was launched across the room with immense force, It sent me spiraling into a glass case holding an old buffalo necklace that belonged to an old Native American tribe. After hitting the floor with a loud thud, I got up onto my knees as fast as possible. "Not again," I said as I stood up. "What do you want this time Zoom?" I asked as the black figure stood in front of me. He just stood there staring at me until another man dressed in a long black leather trench coat and a hood walked up next to him. I was unable to see his face do to the shadow that covered it from his hood. "Hello, Pretender." The man commented. That was what the mysterious voice called me before he made me stab myself a couple of days ago. "Come back for another beating?" He asked me, "Try and try you will but my friends are smarter." I told him poking my head. _How's that? _The man said in my mind. It didn't work, the telepathic intrusion scrambler didn't work. That's when I had about a second to think, if my body can travel at super speed, so will my brain, I mean it has to process my motor functions right? If I think fast enough, maybe I can keep him from using my brain against me again. I began thinking about my parents and all the great times we had over and over again to keep the man out of my head. He turned to look at Zoom, "It's not working!" he cried as he tried to intrude my brain again. Zoom turned his head to look at the man, "You've proven yourself useless more than once Headstorm." Zoom said with his demonic voice as he grabbed him by the neck and threw him at me with his speed. I wasn't able to get out of the way before being tackled by the man dressed in dark leather and we both fell to the ground and rolled over each other knocking the man unconscious. I had to push the man off of me before getting up to confront Zoom. "That wasn't very nice." I stated while cracking my neck. "You killed my parents. Why!?" I demanded, showing my pain and anger. He ignored my question "Not yet Cutter." His voice ripped through the air like fire from hell, as if he were the devil himself. "I still need you to get _faster._" I shook my head, "If you want my speed, why don't you take it from me already? I'm right here you coward!" I taunted him bitterly and he tilted his head again. "You're a selfish coward, we're going to stop you and when we do, I'm going to make damn sure you never hurt anyone again." I told him as lighting from my anger started to spark around my body again. "Yes Thomas, use your anger." He voice echoed across the room along with the sound of the electrical zaps bouncing off my body.

Zoom used his speed to run back and blow through the Museum's doors and I quickly followed. Faster and faster I went, almost caught up to Zoom, his speed clearly outdid mine, but I kept catching up. Left down this street then a right down that street, buildings flying past us faster and faster, street after street, two more lefts and another right until he did something weird. Zoom just ran through a building and I don't mean through the doors. He passed through the walls like a ghost. I skidded to a stop into the brick wall that Zoom just phased through, "What the hell? Caitlin, what just happened!? Where did he go!?" I asked her. "What's wrong?" Caitlin questioned worriedly over comms, "He just ran through a wall Caitlin, a solid wall! Dammit, I lost him!" I turned all around to check if he was truly gone. "Oh you've got to be kidding me." I sighed in anger while kicking the wall I crashed into. I turned again and sat down on the sidewalk in my flexible leather friction proof suit. "I almost had him dammit." There were a few seconds of silence before Wells came in the room over comms. "Thomas get back here, we've got something to show you." He told me, "Okay I'm on my way, just have to grab the meta back at the museum before the cops get him." I stated as I got up and ran back to Central City Museum.

As I got there the cops had yet to come in they were all out front still unaware that the danger that lies inside the building was no longer a threat. I speeded my way past the officers set up outside and got indoors, I looked around for the mind-controlling metahuman from earth 2. "Ah there you are." I knelt beside the man in the hood and curiosity tempted me to reveal his identity now rather than later. "Here goes it…" I said to myself before slowly removing the man's hood. My jaw dropped when the hood was fully removed, "Oh my God..." Just as Cisco had said, the man was tall, had short black hair, and tanish white skin, with a light bluish gray eye color. I knew his features sounded familiar but I never would have thought the man behind the hood would be Isaac. I picked Isaac up and rushed out of the building with super speed and ran as fast as I could to Star Labs. When I got down to the Cortex I sped into the middle of the room and dropped Isaac's unconscious body onto the floor. There was silence for a few seconds before anyone even said something. "Hey, did you know him?" Caitlin asked me was with a cautious voice, she began walking towards me as a tear began to trickle down my cheek as my face grew hot with anger and confusion. Without a second more of hesitation, I grabbed the man off the floor and moved him quickly to the pipeline and locked him up. I closed the door to the pipeline and walked away into the hallway with confusion and other mixed emotions.

"Are you alright Thomas?" Asked Caitlin in a concerned tone as she approached me. I wiped the tears from my eye and face before answering back. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine…" I took a deep breath, "Actually, I don't know if I'm okay, it feels like my whole world was just rocked negatively." I responded while trying to fight the tears that threatened to flood my eyes. "Who is he to you?" She asked cautiously, knowing that she was heading into uncharted territory. "His name is Isaac Miller and he was my best friend," I told her as I leaned against the wall. "No, my brother." The fact that Isaac knowingly attacked 'SpeedStream' and killed those innocent people made this even harder for me. "He betrayed me? For money?" I started thinking out loud to myself, "Did you tell him that you're 'SpeedStream?'" She asked me. You could tell she was trying to give Isaac the benefit of the doubt. "No… No, I was going to-" I responded as another tear descended down my cheek. "Not anymore I guess…" My heart sank deep into my chest and I wiped my tears away yet again. "Whether he knew it was me he was targeting or not, he still made the conscious decision to murder. Not to mention he broke the law in seventeen other ways, thirteen times." I said out loud bitterly. Isaac was my best friend and he betrayed me by working with Zoom, he knew that Zoom killed my parents and tormented me with that pain for months. Cisco's voice echoed through the facility over the intercom, "Hey guys our mystery man is awake." I guess Cisco got out of bed after all. Caitlin and I exchanged a look of sadness before I wiped the tears running down my face away and pulled my cowl back over my head, "Let's go greet our guest."

The door to the pipeline opened with an expel of air from the closed-off room, and I stood in the shadows in front of the door studying the darkly dressed man. "Don't you know unlawful imprisonment is illegal?" Isaac scoffed. "Why were you working with Zoom?" I asked, my voice was fractured with pain but I tried to keep emotion out of this. "Now why would I tell you that?" He remarked purposely trying to get under my skin, "Because if you don't, there isn't any chance you will ever get to leave this place, you hear me?" I stated bitterly before crossing my arms. "Good point…" Isaac said. He leaned against the back of the containment cell before talking again. "We were trying to get you faster so that Zoom could steal your speed." He stated plainly. _Of course… _I thought to myself annoyed with his response. I began to walk away, "Wait! You said I could leave if I told you!" I shifted my head to the left to glance back at him. "I said if you didn't tell me, that there was no chance of you getting out, I never said I would release you." I began to walk away again before something he said broke through the pain I was already feeling and made It worse, "_Thomas_, wait!" He knew who I was… He knew it was me? The pain of betrayal struck me even harder as though my heart was made of glass and he just shattered it. With anger building up I pulled off my cowl, "You knew it was me?" I asked rhetorically but he still answered, "Yes okay yes." I turned around to face him, "You knew it was me this whole damn time and you still worked with Zoom!? Instead of coming to me for help!?" My body glowed with dark orange lightning as it sparked around me from the anger that pulsated from betrayal. "Thomas I-" "No dammit! You knew! You knew what Zoom did, you know what he put me through and everything he's put the city through and you still partnered with that maniac!?" I cut him off getting up close to the glass barrier separating me from Isaac. It was a good thing too, I could have killed Isaac with all this pent up rage. "You were my brother Isaac, and now you're just another bad guy." I told him this time more hurt than angrily. "I hope you like the color blue, you're going to be in there for a while." I told him as I walked off completely hostile in defense and anger. I closed the door to the containment cell and left into the hallway. "Thomas are you-" "Not now Caitlin. Please." I told her calmly before walking away to the Cortex.

"What did you need to show me, Harry?" I asked, still annoyed and angry about Isaac. "It can wait if you want-" "Please, just tell me." I cut Wells off. He nodded and grabbed the tablet, "Tell him Harry." Cisco smiled as he nodded my way. "Today was the fastest you have ever run." He told me with what actually sounded like excitement. "Well, how fast was that?" I asked curiously, "We calculated just above 5,525 Miles per hours." Cisco chimed in, my eyes widened, "During your run with Zoom this morning, it looks like you siphoned off some of his speed to increase yours." This news was music to my ears! "Are you telling me I have the power to increase my speed by stealing his?" I asked them curiously and impatiently. "Not exactly," Cisco started, "You link other's connections to the speed force with your own connection. In doing so you harness both _your _connection and the person you're running to, with or from, giving you more velocity." I began pondering different questions in my head trying to make better sense of it, "Is the gained speed permanent?" I asked Wells worriedly and he nodded, "The speed you gain from running alongside other speedsters is in fact permanent." Wells told me with a smirk. "However, You can only match their speed not go faster, sadly." I was okay with this, pretty soon Barry would be out of the speed force and we will be able to take down Zoom once and for all. "How is the Interdimensional Tether coming?" I asked heading to the center console and sitting in the chair. "It's finished, just need Ramon to look at it and we can go get the Flash back," Wells said with a smile. I'm finally fast enough to break Barry out of the Speed Force and the Flash is coming home!


	4. Zoom's Reign Chapter 4

_**This was a fun chapter to write, I hope that it is easy to follow, at least in the speed force. feel free to let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review.**_

**Central City Cemetery**

I walked down the grassy plain covered in gravestones, one hand gripping flowers and the other shoved into my pocket. After a few moments of walking, I finally got to the Graves that read "Simon Cutter" and "Amelia Cutter." This was the first time I've visited my parent's headstones since the funeral and I stood facing both of them. "H-hey Mom, hey dad," I said out loud trying to fight the tears of sadness the threatened to fall from being here. "Sorry it took me so long to come see you guys." I said with a forced smile, "I got you your uh, your favorite flowers Mom," I said to the unresponsive piece of stone. I gripped the flowers with both of my hands, "They are Gardenia, just like the ones I used to buy you on your Birthday and Mother's day." I began to grow uncontrollably sad and a tear started to run down my face as I placed the beautiful white flower in front of her grave. "I uh, I'm trying to stay positive for you guys. Trying to stay strong. It's really hard without you two." More tears began to stream down my face, "I got speed." I laughed. "I'm like the Flash now and I've been keeping the City safe while The Flash is away." I wiped my face before kneeling down. "I never would have thought, after losing you two, I would lose my brother too." I told them, "Isaac...He uh, he betrayed me. He worked with Zoom to try and stop me from stopping him and knew i was the one under the mask whole time too." I said with bitterness while wiping away another tear. "I don't know what to do about him guy's. Not to mention the enormous responsibility I have been given to look after the City. These are hard times and I miss you guys a lot." I continued to allow tears to freely roll down my cheeks, there was no point in trying to stop them. "Okay, I have to go now… I'll come back soon, I promise." I nodded and smiled while wiping away the remaining tears. I began to walk out of the graveyard and through the main gate. My phone began to ring and I answered it, "Hey what's up?" I asked, the voice that came out next was Cisco's. "Hey, we have everything set up, are you ready?" He asked me. "Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." I responded, getting ready to run back to Star Labs. "Okay, see you soon." He told me. This past day has been the hardest of my life, to feel all the anger in this betrayal was awful, I felt way more anger than sadness.

**Star Labs**

I got to the elevator in star labs and took it downstairs to the Cortex. I don't run or speed into the Cortex though, I just walk. I wasn't in a very good mood, and I hope that something as cool as going into the very thing that generates my power, would be enough to bring me back to happiness. "There you are Thomas, where've you been?" Cisco asked me curiously. "I had to take care of something before we did this, I'm good to go now." I responded nodding to the Interdimensional Tether. " Okay check it, I retrofitted the Tether to your emblem so you don't have to carry it around all the time while you're in there." Cisco told me with a smile, He picked up the emblem and showed me, "That's actually pretty badass bro." I said with a chuckle before grabbing the emblem and taking a look at it. On the back of the emblem lay a small piece of tech that lit up dark blue glow. "Okay, let me go get into my suit and we can do this." I told them, placing the emblem down and walking out of the room. I speed dressed in the hallway and came back in. "Are we doing this or what?" I asked playfully, "Come on." I motioned with my hand to follow into the pipeline. When we got to the door to the pipeline, Cisco moved Isaac's cell further into the pipeline so that I could get into the giant circular room and open a portal. I turned and faced them all, "Here, put this on." Cisco told me while handing over the emblem, "This will monitor your vitals while you're in there." I put it on and nodded to them all a goodbye for now. As soon as I turned around to run into the offline Particle Accelerator, I heard a voice. "Thank you, Thomas." I turned to see it was Iris and Joe, he had his arm around Iris in a side hug. They came to see me off and got here just before I left. "I'll get your son back, I promise." I told Joe and he nodded. "Be careful Thomas." Caitlin told me, "I will."

I pulled the cowl resting on my back, over my head. With a flicker of lightning in my eyes, I speeded off into the pipeline. When I got to the ground floor of the accelerator, I pushed as hard as I could and as fast as I could, "Thomas, you have to think hard on what you are trying to achieve before the portal will open." Wells told me over comms "Got it!" I yelled over the sound of my lightning. A loud bang just shot through the building and shook it. "You just passed Mach 2." Cisco told me from comms. Around and around and around I went in the Particle Accelerator, first Mach 1, a few seconds later Mach 2. "Almost there Thomas keep pushing." Wells told me again, and I listened, I increased my speed as fast as I could possibly go. "Mach 5!" Cisco yelled over the comms. I continued to push myself harder and harder. "Almost there, keep going!" Cisco yelled again. I surpassed Mach 6 and 7, when I got to Mach 8, I punched a hole right through reality. The color was a weird soft blue on the outside and a darker blue on the inside and it spun slowly. "That's your ticket into the speed force, run Thomas run!" Wells told me and I ran, I ran and I disappeared, the tunnel collapsing behind me.

**The Speed Force **

I was stopped by force, but it didn't feel that way. I slowed to a complete stop, without skidding, without falling, I just stopped. I bent over resting my hands on my knees and trying to catch my breath. "Ho- holy, holy crap!" I breathed out, "it worked!" I was now surrounded by darkness, only I was able to see myself, lit up like if I was standing in the sun but enveloped in space. "Hello?" I called out, my voice echoed as if I were in a parking garage. "Hello?" I called out again but louder. "Guess no ones home…" I began to start walking into the endless void that lies ahead. About an hour of walking goes by when I hear a strange creaking noise, I turn around to see a door. Light was bleeding from the cracks of outline on the doorway. "This seems a little sketchy but sure let's open the door." I remarked. I began walking to the door and when I got to it I opened it. Light exploded through the door with an eye blind luminosity. "Oh geez." I complained, pulling my arms up to block the light. I kept walking into the door until the light settled.

On the other side of the door, I found myself in my apartment, "What the-" confusion flooding my mind, I had no idea how I just left the speed force. I touched my earpiece, "Cisco?" There was nothing but an ominous static. "Caitlin? Wells?" nothing but the static. "Joe! Iris!" Still no response, "Anyone?" I asked desperately. There was nothing but static. I walked to my front door to leave but when I walked through it, I found myself in another person's home. "What the hell is going on?" I questioned confusedly, shuffling around in a circle to look around. I closed the front door and started to look around, I saw pictures of Barry, Joe and Iris. "Joe's house?" I questioned loudly, "Why?" I walked up the stairs and into the hallway where there were four doors, which I assumed were the bedrooms. I opened the door all the way at the end of the hall, assuming it's Joe's and when I walked inside I found myself at the cemetery. I turned to look back at the door but the doorway was gone. "Dammit now what." I looked in front of me and laying there, were my parent's headstones with the flowers I left there this morning. "I... Don't understand?" I felt the presence of someone else behind me while I gazed upsettingly at my parent's graves. "Hello, son." A deep voice called out from behind me. I know that voice, I haven't heard it in quite some time but I remember exactly whose voice it was. "Dad?"

I turned around to face the man, "Oh my God, Dad!" He didn't say anything, he just lifted his hand to stop me. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I'm not your father Thomas, we just thought you'd be more comfortable talking to someone you know and trusted." my eyebrows narrowed, "I don't understand…" "We are the Speed Force Thomas." A tear of disappointment fell down my cheek. "Why are you here?" He asked me. "I- I- I'm here for B- Barry." I told them, my words and thoughts were scrambled when I finally realized I was having a conversation with the Speed Force. "I see." Is all the higher being said. "Can you take me to him?" I asked nervously. "I cannot. You will have to find him on your own I'm afraid." He told me as he began to walk away "Wait!" I called out and he stopped, "How do I find him?" I questioned. "Follow your heart." The being said before he vanished, disappearing immediately. "You've got to be kidding me". I said while sighing and rolling my eyes. I turned around and found myself in the CCPD Precinct. It was empty, just like the Cemetery and Joe's house. I'm beginning to think maybe I have to search in places Barry loves. I make my way slowly up the stairs to our lab, when I turn down the hallway I noticed that the lights were on in the lab. I began walking faster to see if it was Barry. "Barry!", I whispered, "Barry are you in there?" I turned the corner only to find Joe standing there. "Oh, Joe! Am I glad to see you man!" I sighed as I walked to him. "Hello, Thomas." He called, "Not Joe." I said while throwing my arms down to my side. "You won't find Barry Allen here." I started growing agitated now, "Dammit then where?" I raised my voice and the higher being turned around. "You will find him where he is happiest." He stated before vanishing once again. "Thought you weren't going to help." I remark sarcastically before deciding to leave. I walked out of the doors and appeared in an old arena.

"Where am I now?" I questioned to myself. It was hot and humid. The arenas floor was made out of sandstone and sand, the walls were also made from sandstone and the seats were made from wood. If I didn't know any better I'd say I'm in a jungle. The floor began to shake, and I turned around to see what was coming. "What the hell is that?!" I exclaimed out loud. It was a ten-foot ape, and he talked in my mind. "Hello, Thomas." It was just the speed force again, I could tell because so far every time I've been greeted by them they've said "hello Thomas" I looked up at the Gorilla, "That's an interesting look." I stated, crossing my arms. "You have not yet met Grodd, but you will. He will challenge you someday." The Speed Force revealed. "How does this help me?" I asked angrily. "You will not find Barry here, turn back." The Gorilla said before disappearing again. "This is getting annoying," I told myself before walking to a big door to the inside of the stands. When I opened the door and walked through it, I was still at the arena. There was a seat and an old projector with a note on top that said play me. I sat in the chair and hit the play button, the screen lit up and I saw Isaac and Zoom. "You've got to be kidding me!" I said bitterly.

"I need your help." Zoom asked Isaac in his devilish voice. "Why the hell would I help you, you're nothing but a monster!" He responded angrily. "If you do not help me I will kill Thomas." He said to him. "Okay, what do you need?" Isaac asked reluctantly in shame as he lowered his head. "I need Thomas to feel betrayed, so he can get faster." Zoom explained. "Faster? What do you mean faster?" He asked. Zoom tilted his head, "Thomas is a speedster now, and I want his speed." Isaac's eyebrows narrowed in pain. "You want me to betray my brother?" He asked him. "Its that or I will torture him to the brink of death and do it again the next day and the next." He demanded, and Isaac nodded.

The tape stopped playing and a whole new battle of emotions sputtered through my body. I began to understand fully why Isaac was doing what he did. But he did break the law, he did kill innocent people and there was no way I will let him get away with that. I got up and walked back to the door I came in from, as I walked through the doorway I found myself in Star Labs. I was in the hallway to the Cortex. I started walking to the Cortex and noticed Cisco sitting at the center console, "Let me guess, here to teach me another lesson?" I remarked as I walked up behind him. "Welcome Thomas." He said, "You're getting closer Thomas." I rubbed my eyes with my fingers and sighed. "Think harder Thomas. Remember that you will find him in a place where he is happiest." I turned around and walked back into the hallway. "When will this end?" I asked myself, I got into the elevator and pushed the button to go up. When the elevator reached the main floor it opened a loft. "This place is nice!" I said looking around the place. The kitchen was on the right and there was a wall of windows on the left there was even a turtle on the side table I stood next to. "Hey there little guy." I laughed. I looked to the right to see a picture standing there. "Huh." I whispered and picked it up. It was a photo of Barry and Iris. "What is this?" I asked out loud. "This is a possibility of the future ." A man said from the kitchen. "Not your future but Barry's." I nodded, "Yeah I could tell." I Scoffed. "You're even warmer Mr. Cutter, almost there." The man turned around and it was . He took a bite of a hamburger and then disappeared. I shook my head in disbelief that this quest would ever end. I began walking to the back of the loft and entered a room. It led me to the middle of a neighborhood.

"Never been here before." I stated out loud. There was a house right in front of me, there were stairs leading up to a front porch. It was a small house, not too big but my gut told me to go in it. I began walking down the street when memories that weren't mine flooded the street almost like movie screens. One memory was of a young boy visiting his father in prison, one was of the Flash punching a Gorilla at Mach 1.1, and the last one was of a kiss with Iris on a shoreline right before a tsunami hit the city. "These all must be Barry's memories." I stated as I continued to walk down the street. I reached the house and began walking up the stairs to the porch. I heard talking on the inside of the house and saw Barry talking to a woman, I opened the door and slowly crept inside. I couldn't quite make out what they were talking about but when I came inside the woman stopped talked and turned around. "Thomas?!" Barry yelled, "Is that really you?" He asked surprised and excited. A smile lit up on my face, "Yeah it's me, buddy." Barry came over and hugged me and I hugged back. "How did you get in here?" He asked curiously. "I'm a uh- I'm a speedster like you." I told him with a smile. "Barry I came to get you out of here, we need you back home." I explained to him. "Central City needs the Flash." Barry's eyebrows narrowed and he looked down. "How long has it been?" He asked, his words were fractured. "A few months now." Barry's eyes shifted to the woman, "You're ready Barry." She said with a smile. Barry turned to look at me again and then down at his hand to see it was vibrating really fast. "Let's go home Thomas." With a flicker of lightning in our eyes, we sped out of the house and down the street, down the highway, and into the city until we had enough speed between the two of us to open a portal out of the speed force and back into the real world. We flew through the portal and into the Cortex spiraling Into the ground rolling over top of one another until we stopped.

**Star Labs**

"Barry!" They all screamed, Cisco, Caitlin, Joe and Iris. Iris went to hug him and Joe followed. I stood up and walked over to Cisco and Caitlin, "How long was I gone?" I asked. "Dude that was like 10 minutes!" Cisco laughed as he patted me on the shoulder, Caitlin hugged me as well. "Thank you, Thomas, we couldn't have done this without you." She smiled as she pulled away. They both went to go see Barry after the long time that he has been gone. I couldn't help but smile, I just did the world a favor by bringing the Flash back and I didn't want anything in return. "Thomas." Barry called out, "Thanks for getting me out of there." He told me with a smile while he was hugging all of his friends. I nodded, "My pleasure buddy." I began walking out of the Cortex. "Where are you going Thomas?" Joe asked before I left. "I need to talk to someone really fast, I will be back soon." I told them and I went to the pipeline.

When I got to the entrance I called for the cell that Isaac was being held in and had it transported to my location. "Isaac we need to talk." I told him calmly. And he nodded, "Let's talk then." "I know why you did it…" I told him, "Did what? I've done a lot of things in the past few weeks." He responded defensively. "You betrayed me to save me." I stated and his eyes widened, "How did you know that?" he asked confused. "Look that doesn't matter okay. Are you still my brother?" I asked him. I saw a tear run down Isaac's cheek as he nodded. "Good now its Zooms turn to be betrayed." I winked at him as I backed up and let him out if his cell. "Thomas I'm so sorry, I really really am…" He cried as he walked over and hugged me. "Easy man I forgive you." I told him and he hugged tighter. "I didn't think you would." He said after he pulled away. "Look Isaac, my team probably won't trust you, but be patient, they will eventually." He nodded. "Come on let's go." I told him and we walked together to the Cortex.

"Thomas! Are you out of your damn mind?" Joe yelled as he pulled his gun from his holster and aimed it at Isaac. "Woah! woah! Woah!" I yelled, "Put the gun down Joe." Isaac seemed frightened now. "Look the Speed Force revealed to me why Isaac _betrayed _me and it wasn't for his own good it was for mine. He did it for me. Zoom threatened to kill me if Isaac didn't do what he wanted him to." I explained. "Who's Isaac? And what's going on?" Barry asked confused. "Barry we'll explain it to you later okay?" Caitlin told him and he nodded. "Isaac wants to help us stop Zoom." I explained into more depth. "We could really use his help and now that there are two speedsters and another metahuman who are more than willing to stop Zoom's reign, we have an unstoppable chance." I pointed out. "Thomas, how much do you know about your powers?" Barry asked. I looked at him, "Not as much as you I'm afraid." "Tomorrow we should train, maybe I can teach you a few new tricks." He smiled, "I can't wait." I laughed I looked back at Isaac, "Hey why don't you go on home and we will meet up again tomorrow for training and a plan." Isaac nodded, "I won't let any of you down, I promise you that." he said with a wave to all of them. "Good night everyone." and he left. Joe walked over to me and whispered, "Thomas are you really going to let him go? Do you have any idea how many people he's killed?" I sighed, "Of course I do Joe, but we need him right now. After we settle this Zoom problem we can talk about Isaac." Joe nodded. "Trust me, we can trust him."

**Central City Cemetery**

Once again I found myself walking down the grassy plain covered in headstones, making my way to my parent's markers. It was dark and cold outside, you could hear the sounds of crickets on the ground and Bats in the sky. It was a beautiful night, it was a little bit ominous too but that's just because of the cemetery. "Hey Mom, Dad, it's me again. I did it, I saved the Flash. I worked things out with Isaac as well. I uh… I hope you're proud of me." I told the unresponsive headstones, more tears began to run down my cheeks. "Wherever you are, I hope you're proud." I straightened the flowers I had left there earlier today and walked out of the cemetery.

**Star Labs The Next Morning**

I came in early today to meet with Barry for a training session before everyone got here. It was about six o'clock in the morning. I walked into the Cortex, "Barry you here?" I called out, all of the lights were on so someone was definitely here. I didn't get a response so I kept going throughout the facility. "Barry?" I called out again in the hallways. "Mr. Cutter, are you aware that it is six O'clock in the morning?" A sleepy and grouchy Wells asked as he came out of a room with two beds in it. "Harry? You live at Star Labs?" I asked dumbfoundedly. I always thought that Harry lived in a cheap apartment of some sorts, guess I was wrong. "Yes, and you're being very loud. Can you take it down a notch?" He responded annoyed. I nodded, "Sorry." and Harry turned around back to his bed, I guess Jesse still isn't back yet. I continued to roam the halls through the facility during my search for Barry when I suddenly stumbled upon one very large warehouse type of room, I mean it was huge. I found Barry in here setting up a large wooden wall, "Ah, there you are." Barry stated as he came over to me. "What's all this for?" I asked confused as to why we needed a large wooden wall. "So, Caitlin told me that during one of your encounters with Zoom he phased through a wall and got away." Barry explained, "Well today I'm going to teach you how to phase so that next time he can't escape you." Excitement sprang through my body, "Hell yeah! Let's do it bro." I said in excitement as we dapped.

A few hours have gone by and so far, all that has happened is me running really hard into a large wooden surface. "Barry, man this isn't working." I stated in disbelief and annoyance. "You'll get it, I know you will." He told me as he leaned against the wooden wall. I look at with disbelief and he stood up straight, "Here watch," He held his hand up and started to vibrate it. "When you vibrate at the natural frequency of air, your body, your cells, will be in an excited state that'll allow you to phase." He told me with a demonstration as he passed his hand through the wall. "That literally looks impossible to me." I stated as I stepped back to start again. "Try again but this time, before you run through the wall, jump up so that you only have to focus on phasing." He explained to me and I nodded. The electricity flickered in my eyes, it reached and touched every nerve in my body and the lightning flickered quickly on the outside of my body before I sped off into a race around the large room. One, two, three laps around the room until I built up enough speed, I ran so fast that time slowed in the room. As I reached the front of the wall of reinforced wooden wall, I ran in a straight line and about five feet away, I jumped from running and flew through the air until I collided with the wall. It didn't work again, I hit the ground harder this time and slid on my back until I hit the metal wall behind, forcing me to a stop. I lay on the floor in agonizing pain from the impact. Barry sped over to me, "Ouch…. Are you alright?" He asked me while lending me his hand to help me up. "That's… That's enough for now." I groaned out as I accepted his hand. "That was close, you sure you don't want to try again?" He asked me trying to push this. "No no, I'm alright," I told him hunched a bit from the pain cycling through my body. One thing was for sure, I wasn't ready to phase yet.

We walked into the Cortex to find Caitlin and Cisco getting prepared for their day today. "Hey, guys." Barry greeted them and I waved to them as well. "What happened to him?" Cisco asked concerned pointing to me. "He uh… He ran into a wall off balanced at Mach 2." He explained to them while still helping me stand. Caitlin walked over to me, "Here, let me take him." She told Barry and they exchanged places. "What hurts?" She asked me as we walked to the medical room. "Everything." I groaned, "But mainly my back." As we reached the medical room, she helped me to the bed and had me sit on the edge of it until I was able to lay back on it fully. "Sounds like you need a chiropractor." She chuckled, "I can help you out with that." I nodded and let her work her magic to fix me up.

I've been resting for about an hour now and I'm finally ready to get moving again. I walked back into the Cortex to greet Cisco, Harry, Caitlin, and Barry, "Hey, I have to get back to the lab guys I'll catch up with you all later." I told them as I grabbed my coat from a nearby chair. "Barry now that you're back, your spot in the lab is still available." I explained to him, "That's awesome." He said with a smile, "I'll go speak to Singh today." I nodded and proceeded into the hallway and to the elevator to get to work. Phasing will just have to wait.


End file.
